It is already known to provide devices for rapid adjustment of the height of an article of furniture and, of course, for varying the spacing between two elements utilizing an eccentric which is rotated by an actuating member such that the axis of the eccentric is located on one of the elements of the device and the eccentric has a camming surface which bears upon the other element of the device to adjustably space the two elements apart as the eccentric is rotated about its axis.
One such arrangement is described in German patent document DE-AS 12 64 709 as a height compensating or leveling device for a foot of an article of furniture.
The axis of the eccentric, in this case, is defined by a horizontal bolt or shaft which carries a disk formed with the eccentric surface and rotatable to cam two elements apart in the height adjusting operation.
This system relies upon friction between the various elements just described and especially between the eccentric camming surface and the element bearing thereon, to retain the adjustment once it is set. Since such friction may be insufficient and the eccentric can be positioned at a point that the load tends to rotate the eccentric into another position, such devices have not been fully satisfactory.
Other devices for adjusting orientation and especially height, have various drawbacks as well. Mention may be made of screw adjustment devices which have less tendency to slip if they are provided with shallow pitches but partly as a result of such shallow pitches, can be adjusted only by time-consuming operations. Pawl and ratchet systems are also not fully reliable, generally are not continuously adjustable, i.e. do not provide a continuous height adjustment but rather operate in steps.
Consequently, a rapidly acting, fully reliable, continuously adjustable, simple and inexpensive device for the adjustable suport of a load, especially a furniture article or business machine or a computer facility, or a data processing unit has not been readily available heretofore.